Actually nine.
Let me just open in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for the privilege of prayer.
We thank you that we have at the ready full copies of your word in our homes,
many of us in our pockets, in many, many, many rooms of our homes in many cases.
Lord, you have made your word in this day so accessible.
We confess that we don't always love your word the way we ought to.
We don't always pay close attention to it.
We don't always heed your word.
Lord, we come to you needy and in need of your spirit to help us and to teach us.
Lord, form in us hearts that love your word as the psalmist loved your word.
Form in us minds that are able to meditate deeply on your word
and to retain your word in our hearts and minds.
Lord, we commit this time to you.
We thank you for, just thank you for it.
And we thank you, too, that we're not needing to wear masks.
It's great to see full faces.
We thank you for all these things.
In Jesus' name, amen.
There are handouts here.
So today we're going to talk about biblical meditation and memorization.
We'll spend a lot more time on meditation than memorization.
That's a warning.
We'll talk just briefly about what biblical meditation is not.
And I think most of us recognize this.
But it's not about emptying our minds or making our minds passive
or just letting the words flow over us.
It's not, in our modern context, it's often taken as like a, yeah,
like a letting go and a letting, just letting your thoughts go empty,
like trying to empty your head of thoughts.
That's not what we're going for at all.
That fact is quite the opposite.
We want to be filling our minds with God's word.
So it is, this is how Donald Whitney defines it.
Deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in scripture
for the purpose of understanding, application, and prayer.
He uses an analogy of, you're making tea, hot tea.
You have a tea bag.
You have your hot water.
And I have a friend who kind of makes tea this way
because she likes it very weak and she just kind of dips it in.
And she doesn't leave it for long.
She just pulls it out again and she's good.
But that's what, probably hearing the word of God,
maybe read in a service or hearing it, is often just like that.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
It's a good thing, as we talked about last week.
Others might dip it several times, right?
At the tea bag in their hot water.
And you can see that the tea's getting a little stronger.
It gets a little darker, right?
If it's that kind of tea and it's dark.
And that's like reading, right?
We read passages of scripture.
We're taking it in.
Meditation, in that analogy, is like putting that tea bag in,
maybe swirling it around, maybe re-dipping it a few times,
but leaving it in there to soak, right?
And we get the strongest tea possible when we do that.
So that's what we're looking at with meditation.
We're really going to focus in on a very small portion of our reading,
a very small portion of scripture.
We're going to roll it over in our minds multiple times.
We're going to get to a place where we think,
I understand this verse, but we're not going to leave it there.
We're going to push harder.
What else can I see here?
What else?
And we want it to be prayerful,
because the Holy Spirit is,
he's our teacher,
and we want to invite him to show us what he would show us.
And we want to,
we're going to talk more about this in the next couple of weeks
when we talk about prayer.
But often in my meditation,
I'm turning the things that I'm seeing into prayer as I meditate.
So, you know, I'll come to something,
I might be convicted of something,
and I'm going to take that right away
and take it to the Lord
and confess my sin
and ask for forgiveness.
Then I'll go back to the scripture,
look at it more.
I might be learning more about how I got into this sin
or what its effects have been,
my relationships,
or I, you know,
totally depends on what you're meditating on.
That's not always going to be the case.
But we're going to spend,
and when we're meditating,
we're spending a sustained amount of time
on a small portion of scripture
without,
yeah, without dropping that and letting it go.
At some point,
you can move on, right?
Obviously, we're not, you know,
going to every day meditate
on the same three words of scripture,
although there may well be fruit from that.
The scriptures are just so rich.
Other times, you know,
we're just not going to spend that much time.
And that's the nature of scripture.
It's all God's word.
But it's not all equally applicable to our lives
at particular times, right?
So let's talk a little bit about why we want to do this.
In Joshua 1.8,
the author writes,
this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth,
speaking to Joshua,
but you shall meditate on it day and night
so that you may be careful to do
according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous,
and then you will have good success.
So the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.
You know, I think of how
we're maybe in a conversation,
we're trying to say something,
you know, it's just, it's that name,
it's on the tip of my tongue, right?
You know, would that we had scripture like that
on the tip of our tongues, right?
Just ready.
Meditating on it day and night.
Now, we, none of us can sit down 8 a.m. in the morning
and start meditating
and not quit until 8 a.m. the next day, okay?
We're not actually meditating
in this active way day and night,
but we might be meditating
at all different times of the day.
We might be,
we might have a focus time perhaps in the morning,
and then as we go through our day,
we might,
that verse might be recalled to our mind.
We might be thinking about it for a little bit.
And as we go to bed,
maybe we're thinking about the,
maybe we're thinking about the same verse.
And I think the acknowledgement that
it doesn't have to be you're sitting down
in your chair where you have your devotions
and doing this.
It can be anywhere you are.
It can be while driving.
A lot of times I will,
I will ponder a verse while I'm driving.
It can be,
as many people have said,
when you wake up in the night
and you can't get back to sleep,
you got something to chew on,
so much the better.
That's,
that'll be profitable,
more profitable probably
than tossing and turning
and being irritated.
So,
and so the,
the outcome of this in this verse,
so that you may be careful to do
according to all that is written in it.
So it's not enough to just ruminate it
on our heads,
right?
We want to apply it.
We want to heed the word of God.
We want it,
not just up here,
but we want it in our hearts.
We want it where we can live it out.
And then that last sentence,
for then you will make your way prosperous,
then you will have good success.
I think we need to think about
prosperity and success
in this context as God's view.
What is God's view of prosperity and success?
It may not be our view.
It may not be the view of the world.
Probably isn't the view of the world.
But there's a,
there's a flourishing of a spiritual life.
I think that's,
that's a good way to think about this.
This is the,
this is one of the ways
that the word becomes part of us
and we become more and more like God.
And if you recall from the first class,
we do these things for the purpose of godliness.
We do them to grow in our relationship to God
and to become more like him.
So these are,
these are some of the,
some of the outcomes.
In Psalm one,
one to three,
blessed is the man who walks
not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And on his law,
he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season.
And its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does,
he prospers.
So very similar to the verse in Joshua, right?
And,
and when you see things repeated like this in scripture,
you know,
you might stop and think,
well,
maybe this is important,
right?
And this is,
it's very similar.
He delights,
his delight is in the law of the Lord
and he meditates day and night.
So we talked about with the Joshua verse
and then this picture of flourishing,
right?
He's like a tree planted by streams of water
and fruitfulness here,
uh,
that yields its fruit in its season.
So as the word of God becomes part of our minds
and our hearts,
we become more fruitful for the kingdom.
Um,
that may look different,
that will look different,
uh,
for different people in different times
and different seasons.
Um,
but it,
but again,
it's that flourishing of the,
of the spiritual life.
Um,
its leaf does not wither in all that he does,
he prospers.
Once again,
that,
um,
not worldly prosperity,
that's not promised to us by,
uh,
meditating on God's word,
but,
um,
but certainly a spiritual prosperity,
um,
which doesn't mean we won't have seasons that are dry
or difficult or where we feel distant from God.
Um,
that,
that happens.
Uh,
I think we,
we know that from experience.
We know that from reading lives of the saints,
uh,
in the past and,
and in the present.
Um,
but the general,
the general result throughout our lives will be this flourishing,
fruit bearing,
obedience,
godliness,
being like God.
Uh,
so that's pretty good.
Who doesn't want to be like that,
right?
I mean,
that's what we want.
We want to flourish.
Uh,
we love the Lord.
We want to be like him.
We want to bear fruit for the kingdom.
We want to be sharing the word.
We want to be living it out in our lives.
Um,
so this is a way to do it.
Um,
kind of in general,
we're going to learn more as we meditate.
We're going to understand these portions of scripture better.
Um,
we particularly,
we get to a passage.
We're very familiar with,
and we think we've got it like,
okay,
I,
I've read this 4 million times.
Like I,
I understand it,
but sometimes we,
we haven't really taken the time to really look at each word,
to really ponder.
Um,
ponder the implications or to really think about the different connections.
You know,
why is this verse here next to that verse?
You know,
what is the connection?
Um,
sometimes we're super familiar with a verse,
sort of out of context,
uh,
John 3,
16.
Like right now,
I can't think of what John 3,
15 is,
right?
Um,
but if I really understand John 3,
16,
I'm going to have to look at John 3,
15,
right?
And John 3,
17 and the whole,
the whole context of the passage.
And that would be part of meditation.
And then we would glean more from the actual John 3,
16.
Um,
so we're going to learn more.
Uh,
we're going to remember better.
Um,
and I'm not talking here about memorization,
but I'm just talking about,
you know,
if you spend,
let's just say 10 minutes,
we're not necessarily talking about hours here,
say 10 minutes going over and over a verse or a sentence or a phrase of scripture,
we're likely to remember that sentence,
a phrase,
um,
or verse better.
Um,
it gives time for the Bible to seep into our hearts and minds.
We'll be better able to effectively apply it.
The better we understand scripture,
the better we're able to apply it rightly.
Um,
we need to understand what's in front of us.
In order to see how it impinges on our lives,
how,
what effect it should have in our lives.
What in this verse does godliness look like?
And how does that apply to me?
And that takes thought.
Um,
sometimes uncomfortable thought,
you know,
if we recognize like,
this is something I'm not doing or I'm not being,
or this is a place where I frequently fail.
This is a place where,
this is a place where I struggle.
Um,
it's not always fun to look at those things and recognize that,
but that's where we get growth in godliness is through those uncomfortable times,
um,
as well as the,
as well as the more comfortable times.
So,
general,
uh,
you know,
I'm going to talk about,
I'll talk about a bunch of hows now.
Um,
give the word of God time and attention so that seeps into our lives,
into our hearts and minds.
Then we will be better equipped to obey it,
to remember it,
and to apply it accurately.
Basically,
I've said all that.
Um,
when we think about,
uh,
you know,
how often should we do this?
Um,
my professor,
Dr.
Whitney,
said,
every day,
we should be doing this.
And he said,
look,
if you only have 10 minutes
in your time with the Lord,
a given morning,
or whatever your time is,
spend five of it reading,
spend five of it meditating.
Um,
it doesn't have to be,
I don't have,
I don't have a half hour to sit on this verse,
right?
It doesn't have to be like that.
Um,
we want to,
we want to do what we can.
Um,
don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good,
right?
So don't let,
I can't do it really well because I only have these five minutes,
to spend on it.
Don't let that stop you from spending those five minutes because isn't that
better than nothing?
Um,
and we also may find,
uh,
obviously there are time strictures and we have busy lives and we have places
we need to be and places we need to go,
but you may find it really difficult at first to spend more than five minutes,
but the more time you spend,
the more fruitful it gets and you're going to enjoy it more.
So it might be a struggle at first,
but you might get into it and around minute four,
you're like,
this is amazing.
I just,
I need to keep going here,
you know?
And,
and if you have that time,
you know,
then it will be,
uh,
that will be fruitful time,
right?
Um,
so don't,
don't make it something that has to take an hour or half hour,
15 minutes or any amount,
right?
And if you've got to run and go and get in the car and get to work or whatever
like that,
take that verse with you in your head,
write it down and take it with you.
Uh,
you don't have to have memorized it.
You can have it on a three by five card or something like that.
Um,
last week I showed you my little,
uh,
key chain of,
of verses that I pray frequently in the morning.
Those are verses that I also meditate on frequently.
Um,
and I can take them with me if I don't remember them.
Uh,
at this point I mostly remember them.
So,
um,
yeah,
so take it with you and continue to meditate.
If you're doing something like driving,
that doesn't require your full,
I mean,
it requires your full attention,
but it's a different kind of attention,
right?
I mean,
I find it's a different kind of attention.
So yes,
don't crash.
Because you're meditating.
Um,
that would be bad.
Uh,
so that's,
yes.
Okay.
That was frequency.
Um,
how to choose what to meditate on.
Like what I have been doing is I have a portion of scripture that I'm reading on that day because I follow a plan.
So I know what I'm going to read.
Um,
even if it's an informal plan.
Um,
and then I'm going to choose something there,
something in that passage.
That has stood out to me or that has perked my interest or that has confused me or that,
you know,
any number of things.
I'm going to choose something from that reading most days.
Um,
and that just makes sense.
Um,
and that just makes sense.
We're going to understand all what we're reading better if we also meditate on it.
Now we might not,
don't,
don't imagine yourself meditating on a whole chapter because that would take hours,
right?
But maybe a verse,
maybe a phrase,
maybe even,
you know,
a concept,
um,
that comes out of that passage.
like in a narrative.
So you're reading through the gospels in a narrative.
You might not have a single verse.
You might,
but you might not have a single verse because maybe it's a story.
Maybe you want to spend some time.
You've read the parable of the lost son and you want to spend some time thinking about the different characters or choose one character.
What does this tell me about God?
Um,
if God,
uh,
if the father in that,
in that story of the prodigal son,
if the father represents God,
what am I learning about God there?
And just go over and over.
I find,
uh,
writing things down to be helpful in this.
It holds my attention better.
Um,
and just sort of,
yeah,
sort of focuses me better.
Um,
because the mind,
as we all know,
can wander.
Um,
and that to me,
writing it down sort of tethers it to something,
um,
and helps me not to wander,
um,
as much because I'm actively engaged,
um,
physically and visually and all of that.
Um,
you might,
you might find another verse.
You might,
so I,
I,
I was going to bring it again,
but the,
that,
that ring of,
uh,
um,
cards with verses on it that I have,
I,
I'll sometimes,
I'll come to the morning and,
and sit down.
I'll read my chapter and I just won't be able to focus really well on it.
You know,
either it just doesn't,
it's just not doing anything for me.
You know,
like,
which is,
you know,
that's a pretty worldly way to look at it,
but it just not,
it's not grabbing my attention.
It's not,
um,
and I'm just,
I'm just not feeling,
I'm just not feeling it.
You know,
you've had days like that.
I hope I'm not the only one.
Um,
um,
and then sometimes I will just,
I'll just pick up that little set of verses and I'll flip through and find one and just meditate on that and pray that through.
And that has been really helpful for me on those days when I can't,
I just can't concentrate or I just can't,
I just doesn't,
it's just words on the page.
Um,
and as I focus in on one thing that has been meaningful to me,
um,
you know,
that may be a favorite verse.
It may be just a verse that spoke to you two weeks ago.
It may be,
you know,
any number of things.
Um,
even if it doesn't come from that day's reading,
uh,
can draw you in and help you to focus,
um,
and actually meet the Lord in that time.
So that's something that I do.
Sometimes I just feel like I can't even read my,
I'm so sleepy.
Uh,
I'm thinking about this problem I have coming up in the,
day.
I need something to really grab hold of and focus on.
I'll just go right to one of those verses or a verse that I'm memorizing.
Um,
and just focus on that because that's easier if I focus on one thing.
Um,
yeah.
So that's how to sort of,
you know,
that's,
that's one way to choose.
Um,
now,
now the big how is what does it look like to,
uh,
meditate on the scripture?
Sure.
Now I need a handout.
So that's where we come to this.
So as you can see,
this is,
this is straight from,
uh,
Donald Whitney.
He has,
he encouraged us as students to share this with people.
So I feel no compunction in,
uh,
handing it out.
He said,
that was great.
Do that,
um,
in your local context.
Um,
so,
so there are 17 here.
Um,
I'm going to walk through them,
uh,
briefly,
and then we're going to try a couple.
Um,
so,
you know,
as he says on the top,
begin by selecting a passage for meditation from your time of reading God's word.
Choose a verse or phrase that attracted your attention or a theme verse or a key verse from the passage.
And again,
it doesn't have to be from the passage.
And he would,
he would totally agree with me.
So one of the ways,
and I actually learned this a long time ago and have always found it really helpful,
is as you read it,
and you can do this reading out loud,
you can do it reading,
reading,
um,
in your head.
You can,
you can,
so here's his example.
Whatever he says to you,
do it.
Whatever.
I'm going to look at that word and think,
what does that mean?
What is he,
what,
what should I get out of that?
What's that?
Well,
whatever.
Like,
then we,
we think about how,
whatever,
that's a,
wow,
that's a lot.
That's a big open,
you know,
he says a lot of things,
right?
And that's what I'm supposed to do.
Okay.
Now this is,
this is a verse like completely out of context.
So,
um,
yeah.
Anyway,
I'm just using his example.
Not sure it's one I,
one I would have picked,
uh,
because it's in a particular context,
but,
um,
but then you might look at it and go,
you know,
you might,
so noodle over whatever for as long as that's fruitful,
right?
When you,
when you feel like you've gleaned,
you know what this word means,
you understand why you use that word and not another word.
Um,
what else could he have said?
You might think about,
then you go on to the next word and just say,
whatever he says to you,
do it.
And just reading it like that,
I think I,
I don't have to obey what everyone says.
Like I'm not,
I,
that's not actually how I live.
And some of us,
um,
some of us are very eager to please everyone around us.
Right.
And we want to do whatever we want to please the person who's talking with us in that moment.
Right.
And that's not a bad thing,
but if we then shape our lives around other people's demands on us,
uh,
that's probably not a good thing.
Um,
but here,
here we see whatever he says,
do what the Lord says.
Um,
so anyway,
you just sort of go through it,
uh,
one word at a time like that.
Um,
and when you get to whatever he says to you,
do it.
Now you might or might not have much to think about there,
right?
You've already talked about the whatever your thought about the whatever.
Um,
it is really referring back to the whatever.
So you might not spend more than a few seconds on one of these words.
Right.
Um,
and that's fine,
you know,
but in this way you can get,
you can just,
you'll focus in on the words.
So often we read a verse and we just go to the next and we haven't really thought about what did he really say there?
Um,
really?
Whatever?
Like,
whatever?
Yeah,
you know.
Um,
so anyway,
I won't spend as much time on the others.
Uh,
so number two is rewrite the verse or phrase in your own words.
This is challenging.
Um,
I sort of,
it's challenging for me.
I,
other people are probably find it really helpful and really,
and it's not unhelpful for me,
but can we synthesize what this verse means in our own language?
Um,
can we,
yeah,
um,
that's,
that's hard.
And you really have to understand the verse or the passage of the phrase or whatever we're doing.
You really have to understand it well in order to be able to do that fairly and accurately.
Uh,
formulate a principle from the text.
What does it teach?
Think of an illustration of the text.
What pictures,
uh,
or,
yeah,
it's a little typo there.
What pictures explain it?
What,
you know,
how could you visualize it?
What is an image that comes to your mind?
Some of us,
that's going to come faster than others,
right?
We have,
uh,
artistic folks who are going to perhaps think much more visually,
uh,
than others.
And this might be really fruitful,
uh,
to think about what,
what are the pictures that come to mind?
How can you see it,
uh,
in a,
in a visual way?
Um,
look for applications of the text.
What should we do in response to it?
Obviously,
this,
this should be part of all of our reading and stuff,
but to really stop and focus.
Okay,
what do I do with this?
Um,
um,
ask how the text points to the law or to the gospel.
Where do I see,
I don't want to,
I don't want to repeat because he does sort of,
a lot of these sort of overlap,
but,
um,
you know,
where do I see Jesus?
Where do I see the gospel in this text?
Um,
and what,
what,
what's the demand that's out there that I can't meet because none of us can obey the law,
right?
Uh,
how does this point to the need in my life for the gospel?
Um,
oh yeah,
yeah,
the second,
the next one,
how the text points to something about Jesus.
Um,
it's become very kind of commonplace,
uh,
to say that all the Bible is about Jesus because,
I mean,
he said that to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Um,
and he said it to the Pharisees.
It's all about me.
Um,
but we're going to come to verses that we can't quite exactly relate to Jesus,
right?
That's going to happen and that's okay,
right?
But very often we're going to see a picture of Jesus.
We're going to see a picture of his love.
We're going to see a picture of the wrath of God.
We're going to see,
and the,
and then the,
the gospel that tells us,
you know,
that,
that we are not under wrath as we trust in Jesus.
Um,
so those are things to think about.
And you might just like come to a verse and pick one of these things.
Um,
and they're not all going to work well with every verse,
right?
So how does this text point to something about Jesus?
That's often really fruitful and helpful.
What question is answered by this text?
Is there a problem solved?
Pray through the text.
And we're going to talk about that in some depth,
uh,
in a couple of weeks.
Um,
memorize the text.
Uh,
that's part of,
you know,
that's all part of,
part of meditating is often memorization.
Memorization should be part of it.
They should go together.
Uh,
create an artistic expression of the text.
So before we said,
uh,
you know,
think of a picture.
Well,
you might want to actually draw that picture out.
Uh,
you might be more wordy.
You might want to express what you've learned in a poem or a song,
um,
or just something that flows out of your,
the creativity that God has gifted you with.
All of us have been gifted with creativity.
It doesn't always have to be in these forms,
but,
um,
but is there some way we can express it?
Cause what,
if we're expressing it,
especially in a way that,
that God has drawn us to,
right?
If you're,
if you're a visually artistic person,
if you love to look at art,
if you love to draw or paint,
or just play with colors or whatever,
that's a way that's going to help you in your meditation on scripture.
If you can figure out a way to incorporate it.
Um,
and that's,
again,
it's going to vary from person to person and yeah.
Um,
number 12,
ask the Philippians four,
eight questions of the text.
So this is taking the,
the,
the qualities,
uh,
that we're to think on,
uh,
according to Philippians four,
eight,
what is true,
what is honorable,
what is right,
what is pure,
what is lovely,
what is admirable or commendable,
what is excellent,
what is praiseworthy.
So you could just take one of those things,
um,
or you could take all of them and sort of,
you know,
ponder that around,
uh,
your verse.
Number 13,
I neglected to look this up again.
The Joseph Hall questions.
This is a guy who was not writing as a believer about biblical meditation,
but he was talking about how to understand a text.
All right.
And,
um,
and these are his questions.
So what is it?
You're going to define what this verse says,
right?
What are its divisions or portions?
So we have this phrase and you have this phrase,
you know,
you,
if you're grammar minded,
you know,
you,
you want to understand how the clauses fit together,
divisions and parts,
what causes it?
What does it cause?
Like what,
what are the ramifications of this?
Um,
what is its place location or use?
We might think about there,
like,
what is this place in scripture?
What is this place?
What should its place be in my life?
So if you're reading like old Testament law,
you want to think about,
okay,
in its context,
for the original hearers,
it meant one thing,
but we always want to,
as believers in the new Testament,
under the new covenant,
we always want to read the old Testament through the eyes of the new covenant,
right?
We don't want to just read it as an old Testament believer.
Uh,
we don't want to just pretend,
okay,
I'm an Israelite wandering in the wilderness.
And this is what God says for me to do.
Um,
we want to bring,
uh,
the understanding that Jesus has fulfilled the law.
And so,
so that's sort of a place or location kind of thing.
This is all kind of abstract.
And to be honest,
this one does not,
does not speak to me.
I've never used it.
I may never like,
so these series of questions,
Joseph Hall questions.
Anyway,
uh,
you can look at the others and kind of think about,
so they're just different ways.
It's just tools to get a different angle on what you're reading.
Right?
Because especially if it's familiar,
we're going to be like,
I know what this means.
And we've maybe always come to it with a certain understanding because we heard this verse taught 75 times in our childhood church.
And so we know what that person,
that pastor,
that teacher,
that church,
how they interpreted it.
But we may not have really come to it with our own hearts and minds engaged.
Um,
there are many verses I come to,
and I remember what the guy who led my,
the Bible study I was in in high school,
what he said about it.
Now,
if I just stopped there,
he was a good,
he was good.
Right?
He,
he knew,
he knew the scriptures.
He knew the Lord.
He loved the Lord.
He taught us true things.
But maybe there's more to it than his angle.
Right?
We all have angles.
Um,
so these are just different ways to,
to find a different angle,
um,
on it.
Uh,
number 14,
set and discover a minimum number of insights from the text.
So the idea here is you come,
you've,
you've chosen your verse and you say,
okay,
I have,
I have 10 minutes to meditate on this.
First,
I'm going to come up with 15 different insights.
And so you just set that ahead and then you just look at it and you study it and you think about it and you think about the different words and you,
you think about the phrases,
you think about the connections,
you think about it in all these kinds of ways and write down insights.
Maybe something you never noticed before.
Maybe something you noticed,
but you didn't see how it was connected.
Or maybe,
maybe it's like one of the,
like in the,
in the,
first thing we did emphasizing different words.
You know,
you could go through that.
If there's 15 words in the verse,
you should have 15 insights right there.
And if 15 insights come right away,
because you have this really rich and complex verse,
then you didn't set a high enough goal.
You want to set a stretch goal.
Like you want to set a goal that you don't think is reachable.
Right?
So 15 may be more than enough for some verses and 15 may be way too few for another verse.
So you find it easy.
Push yourself.
There's,
there's more,
there's more.
Maybe I can do 30.
And,
and it forces you to just kind of keep returning when you think you've,
you think you've exhausted the text.
Um,
but then you're like,
I'm only at 14.
Surely there's something else.
And it makes you go back to it and go back to it and mine it for all that it has.
And ask the Lord to show you things.
And,
you know,
possibly,
maybe you won't come up with number 15,
but maybe you will.
And that will be really,
you will have fought for it.
Right?
And it will be something very precious.
Um,
and it may be the place where the Lord speaks to you most deeply that day or that week.
You know,
we don't know.
Um,
so,
so this is a,
this is a,
um,
yeah,
it's just a great way to push yourself.
If you,
if you read the verse and you think I'm not getting anything here,
um,
find a link or common thread between the chapters or paragraphs you've read.
So this is more of a big picture.
It's like,
how is this connected to this?
Right?
Why is this parable here with these parables around it?
Why does this parable come first in this string of parables?
You know,
so that,
uh,
you know,
requires you to,
to step back a little and look at context,
which is super important.
And as we read the Bible is where it is,
if you come to the gospels,
it's not just random how they got put together.
They didn't just throw a bunch of,
okay,
let's do a parable chapter.
I'll just put it in here.
I'll make it Matthew chapter 13.
And that'll be parables.
Um,
no,
Matthew had a plan and a purpose and a reason for putting it there and a reason for how he placed each parable.
Um,
so,
so you want to look at those kinds of things and that can be very fruitful,
even though you're not focusing on a single verse,
but you're thinking about the,
the whole structure in front of you.
Um,
um,
and that can teach you something.
That whole structure also shows you something.
Um,
number 16,
ask how the text speaks to your current issue or question.
You've got something on your heart.
You're,
you're thinking about war in Ukraine and,
and the Ukrainian people and how they're suffering.
How does this verse help me?
How does it help me pray for them?
How does it,
you know,
what does it,
how does it comfort me?
How can I pray this comfort for them?
Um,
and we all have,
you know,
plenty of things that we think about,
we wonder about,
we have questions about,
we worry about,
we,
um,
are happy about,
um,
how does this,
how does this text fit in with all that?
And it,
it might not always,
right?
You know,
every verse,
every word doesn't apply to everything.
Um,
so,
you know,
but try,
and maybe it,
maybe it does.
And you don't want to get,
you know,
we,
we want to pay attention to what the text actually says and what it said,
uh,
you know,
what the author intended for it to say.
We want to look at that,
um,
and not just kind of pull random things out of,
out of a isolated verse.
Like,
that's not gonna,
that's not gonna lead to flourishing.
We want to keep tethered to the text and its context.
Um,
but we want to look at it from different angles.
Uh,
like,
uh,
the way a prism refracts light in different ways.
Whatever a prism does,
right?
Uh,
you know,
the,
the beam goes in and it goes out in different ways.
We want to turn that prism and look at the different,
different aspects of this text.
Um,
and the last one,
number 17,
he calls it meditation mapping.
And he,
uh,
he notes down there a couple of books on mind mapping.
And some of you use this in other contexts in your life.
I know my husband does.
Um,
and he gives some guidelines for how to do this.
And this is sort of visual.
You would,
you know,
put the verse or a word or phrase,
like write it down in the middle of a circle around it.
Then you're going to think of all these different things and then how they connect.
And I don't,
I'm not a mind mapping expert.
Um,
but he has some,
he has some ideas for how to do this.
And you can,
you know,
I'm sure you just Google mind mapping.
You'll get a lot of help,
um,
in what this looks like.
And that can be really helpful.
Um,
I tend to be a really linear thinker.
And mind mapping doesn't really,
I mean,
I haven't tried it that much,
so maybe I should just try it.
But,
but it just doesn't attract me because it just looked like,
ah,
scattered.
But,
um,
but some of us,
it's,
you know,
that's going to be really helpful.
And,
and,
and I know like for Dave,
it's really helpful,
um,
in ways it's not for me.
And you may find that.
So Dr.
Whitney gave us these 17 ways.
And he basically said,
you don't have to do them all.
You're certainly not going to do them all on a given day.
Um,
but these are different things you can try.
You know,
if you're trying to meditate on something and you're like,
I'm not getting anywhere,
you know,
you can,
you can pull this out and say,
okay,
what can I,
what can I do with this?
Right.
Um,
you know,
maybe the Philippians four,
eight questions will help me to focus in on what,
what's being said here and how I can understand it.
Um,
you know,
or maybe,
you know,
I need to think about how it applies to this situation or that situation.
Um,
maybe I just need to try and synthesize it,
sort of,
you know,
understand it and try and write it in my own words.
And that's going to require you to really,
as I said,
synthesize it,
like put it all together with other things.
Things that you know,
and make it,
that makes it part of you.
Um,
so that's what this is.
It's a grab bag of ideas,
uh,
for how to meditate.
You look through,
maybe you're not in the practice of meditating on scripture much.
You know,
if I were you in that position,
I would just read through these or as I've talked through them,
think about what one seems like,
Oh yeah,
I could do that.
Makes sense.
I could do that and start there.
Um,
I,
that number one,
emphasize different words.
I learned probably as a teenager.
Um,
and it's very accessible.
Any of us can do that,
put the emphasis on different word and focus on that word.
Um,
and I could do it as a teenager and it's still profitable now that I'm very far from being a teenager.
So,
um,
so many of these things are just,
they're very accessible and you can just,
just try it.
Um,
and again,
I haven't tried all of them.
Um,
but I,
I've probably done a lot of them.
Uh,
and yeah,
so,
so don't ever say,
I don't know how to meditate.
Um,
I don't know how to meditate because now you have 17 ways to meditate.
All right.
Okay.
There's a verse.
This is a verse.
I'll just give you this much.
This is a verse that,
uh,
the pastors were preaching through Colossians.
I don't even sure when this was within the last two years because it was during the pandemic.
Very much so.
And I thought I need endurance and patience when I got,
when they got to this verse,
I don't know what was said about it.
I don't know who preached it.
I don't know any of that,
but I recognized I wanted endurance and patience.
With joy.
I didn't just want to gut myself through.
This is during a time of,
you know,
lots of staying at home and not going places.
And,
you know,
church was all this social distance stuff and it was,
there were masks and all this kind of stuff.
Um,
and I was just like gutting it out.
Right.
It was hard.
Uh,
I missed people.
I,
it was just hard.
So that's,
that's where this verse really grabbed hold of me.
Um,
I,
I wrote it out.
I eventually put it on one of those little tags on my,
on my little key chain thing.
Um,
so that's why I picked this verse because it,
it's just one of those.
And there's a lot there that you don't always see at first glance.
So,
um,
it's exactly what I was going to do.
Okay.
So,
so here's what I want to do.
Um,
okay.
So we're going to spend a few minutes on this,
uh,
using,
um,
the method number one,
emphasizing different words in the text.
So I'm going to ask many of you to read,
read the verse and emphasize a different word.
Okay.
So do I have a volunteer,
Mary,
would you read it emphasizing that first word?
Being strengthened with all power,
according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy,
giving thanks to the father.
Okay.
So Mary emphasized strengthened being is actually the first word,
but it's,
it's,
I took out a middle of the sentence.
Let's just go with strengthened.
What do you think about when you think about strengthened?
Just toss to toss some stuff out.
I just,
we want to,
you would do this on your own probably,
or maybe with a friend or a spouse or something.
Um,
but what are some things that come to mind?
Go ahead,
Ralph.
Uh,
we have a variety of great diversity of strengths.
Yeah.
Yep.
And we see it.
There's some strengths in people.
Yeah.
What else?
Equipped,
equipped to handle whatever,
strengthen,
equipped to,
uh,
endure.
Yeah.
Good.
What else?
Visualizing someone at the gym,
just like,
like pressing weights,
like just doing,
sweating.
It's not,
it's not,
it's not.
Yeah.
We know that building strength is like that,
right?
It's,
it's challenging.
Right.
Good.
What else?
I think of someone after physical therapy,
after an injury,
being able to walk again after they couldn't.
Yeah.
And that brings to mind for me,
like the,
just the prop,
the physical process of how things are strengthened.
Right.
And how that,
I,
you know,
I'm not a physical therapist,
but,
but just how the body heals itself,
you know,
and how that,
it takes time.
Right.
And it takes those exercises.
It takes certain ways to do that.
Um,
if we look at being strengthened,
does that add anything?
I think of the exoskeleton things,
uh,
people who can't,
like,
walk on their own,
or stand on their own.
Yeah.
Exoskeletons that,
it takes time to do those things.
Yep.
Yeah.
We need help,
right?
Right.
So,
uh,
structure,
like,
you provide,
it's like,
it's so good.
Yeah.
It's passive.
It's something that,
it's done to us.
Yeah.
It's passive.
It's,
you know,
a part of simple,
it's ongoing.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Yeah.
So it's not just,
gutting it out,
right?
It's not just lifting weights.
That's part of it.
But it's not just that,
right?
We need,
to be strengthened.
And,
you know,
if you're doing this on your own,
you'd have the verses around it.
Um,
I just pulled these out,
and see where we go with them.
But,
but yeah.
Anything else?
Things?
Strong tower?
Like,
the chest piece,
the tower?
Okay.
That's,
it's amazing.
Visual.
You're surprised.
Yep.
Yeah.
Anything else?
Mary?
I think of being strengthened,
strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
Yeah.
Yep.
Anything else?
Let's get one more.
Come on.
We can do it.
Yeah.
I think about putting up,
uh,
armor of God.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
That's the kind of strength
that comes from protection.
Right?
Yeah.
And that's,
that's certainly part of it.
Right.
Okay.
Someone read the verse,
and let's,
let's,
uh,
emphasize the phrase,
with all power,
this time.
So,
I want to read it with that,
the emphasis on,
with all power.
Okay.
Thanks.
Being strengthened with all power,
according to his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience with joy,
giving thanks to the Father.
All right.
With all power.
You might focus on
each of those words.
Right?
I let,
I let us do a phrase,
but,
um,
it's probably profitable to say all,
to emphasize the all.
What do we,
what do we learn by emphasizing that all?
What do we see there?
Inclusivity.
Yep.
Think of God.
It reminds you of God's infinite power.
Yeah.
Abilities to help.
Yeah.
And isn't that,
you know,
as we look at a verse like this,
or,
you know,
you imagine when we were in the,
the worst parts of the pandemic,
how,
how comforting was it in those times to think God has all this power?
And we're going to see this in the next,
uh,
in the next clause,
praise,
whatever it is.
Um,
but yeah,
with all power,
God has all power,
right?
We don't.
Um,
but look at this.
We can be strengthened with all power.
Imagine that.
Mary.
I automatically think of another scripture,
Philippians 4,
13,
I can do all things to Christ,
the business.
Yeah.
What else?
The thing that strikes me about the all and the power is like,
you know,
a lot of times you think of,
like God's,
God's going to give us some of his power,
kind of help us along,
you know,
but this is really emphasizing that it's really God doing the whole thing.
Yep.
Yeah.
He's not just handing us a crutch.
Right.
Uh,
he's willing to really provide all power.
And we know that,
I mean,
he does anyway,
like we wouldn't be alive if it weren't for his power.
Right.
Um,
but we don't always,
we think of it as our,
our job,
um,
and our power.
And we recognize we,
we don't have that.
Um,
so we want to look to God for it all.
Right.
We don't want to rely on ourselves.
Um,
he equips us and he enables us and we want to work with him in that process,
just like the person lifting weights in the gym,
um,
is,
is active in that process.
Um,
but he has,
all power.
I find that I struggle with is sometimes in those moments of,
you know,
need or urgency.
I,
I just go into fight or flight.
I just go into,
just do it,
you know,
and I forget to pray at those times.
Like,
I just feel like I'm all by myself.
I have to just do it.
So I don't know.
This is helpful.
Yeah.
I totally know what you're saying.
I,
yeah,
same thing.
Um,
and then if this,
like if a verse like this is in your head,
in your heart,
because you've meditated all the way through it as we're doing,
it's more ready for you when you're in that fight or flight,
when something's overwhelming,
it's more,
it's more accessible for you.
And,
I mean,
I have found my ability in those kinds of situations to turn to the Lord with some kind of speed,
uh,
increased the more I meditate on scripture because I know him better.
I know all.
I don't know all,
but I know some of what he has to offer and recognize that he wants to,
he wants to give it.
So,
yeah,
exactly that kind of situation is why we need more Bible in us,
right?
Because we tend to just do it ourselves.
Um,
and doing it ourselves might be a complete disaster,
uh,
in many cases.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's skip to the word glorious.
Someone read it,
emphasizing the word glorious.
Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy,
giving thanks to the Father.
Yeah.
What's going on there?
I think of holy and pure and just,
that's what I think I want to think of.
Yeah.
And when,
when you say that,
I think he's,
he,
it's his glorious might.
He's very strong,
right?
But it's a holy and pure might.
It's not,
you know,
the might of a evil strong man,
right?
Who it's,
it's not that kind of might.
It's not,
it's not Godzilla's kind of might,
right?
It's,
it's,
it's a glorious might.
Yeah.
It sounds different.
Glorious,
right?
What else is glorious?
It's not,
it's not God.
Yeah.
When you think about how Jesus exercised might,
he exercised it by dying on a cross.
He was strong enough to,
he could have wreaked terrible vengeance on those.
Yeah.
Like,
he was strong enough to refrain from vengeance.
His might was restrained,
and he actually accomplished something stronger in what he did.
Yeah.
And I feel like that links to endurance and patience later on.
Yep.
Yeah.
Also,
it reminds me of like,
there's a problem or something.
Like,
I just think of Hagar when she was,
when Sarah told her to leave,
take her out.
And she was like in the desert,
like,
like ready to die.
And like,
the glorious might of God just breaks through her trouble.
Yeah.
And gives her a promise.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Anything else?
Can I speak of an image of gradients?
Like,
we're seeing out something that's,
like,
breathtaking.
Yeah.
And so it describes might.
It's,
it's beyond just,
that he can accomplish,
like,
the logistics that he can accomplish something,
but there's some sort of all to his might.
Yeah.
And beauty,
right?
So I was trying,
I was thinking about,
well,
how would I use this word in a,
you know,
a whole,
not a Bible context,
not a,
and,
you know,
you,
you see a beautiful sight,
you see a beautiful landscape or sunset,
and you see,
oh,
it's glorious,
you know,
and that beauty,
and that,
yes,
awe,
and,
and all of that,
that's what I think of as glorious,
like,
yeah,
light and beauty,
and holiness and purity,
and just goodness,
right?
Yeah.
So let's just,
we're not going to finish the whole,
we're not,
yeah,
we're not going to finish the whole thing,
but,
and we haven't talked about memorization,
so,
here's your task,
take that verse,
and do all the other words,
right?
So,
so,
do that sometime this week,
I would just really encourage you,
I hope you've seen,
some of the fruit that can be born,
you know,
even,
even as we've been doing this,
I've been,
like,
I was really captured,
as we were talking about glorious,
in a way that I hadn't before,
right?
Because I didn't,
I really didn't do this exercise on this verse,
and so,
so I'm thinking about the beauty of his might,
that he,
that he has,
to strengthen me with,
and,
and that's,
glorious,
right?
Yeah,
so I hope you've seen,
some of the benefit that can come,
and,
and some of the fun,
and some of your things will be,
like,
kind of,
you know,
sometimes you're going to come up with an insight,
that's kind of wacky,
but it doesn't matter,
it doesn't matter,
you know,
and it may lead you to something else,
right?
So,
I want to talk briefly about memorization,
I was hoping to do some more,
yeah,
I was hoping to do some more,
actually practicing meditation,
but we should wrap up soon,
Psalm 119,
11,
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you,
in the,
in the times when the Bible was being written,
it was being in,
I mean,
for centuries before us,
essentially,
hearing the scripture,
it was an oral experience,
and people had,
I think people were,
because of,
because of culture and practice,
and just the ways they learned things,
they learned a lot of things,
by heart,
they learned things,
through memory,
in a way that we don't,
and we do less and less of it,
I think,
as we have Google,
and we have our Bibles,
you know,
as I said,
like on our phones,
or in our hip pocket,
and we don't feel the need,
to memorize as much,
and I think it's,
I think it's really hard,
in our culture,
and in our time,
full of information,
and all this kind of stuff,
but I do think it's valuable,
and again,
it's going to be harder for some,
than for others,
like everything else,
we all have strengths,
and weaknesses,
think about,
the process of,
meditating on that verse,
that we looked at,
and how,
do you think now,
especially if we'd gone through,
the whole verse,
do you think,
now it would be easier,
to memorize that verse,
I think it would,
I think for all of us,
it would,
because now we've got,
we've got a lot of handles on it,
right,
and if we went through,
the whole verse,
as I'm asking you to do this week,
you know,
we're going to find,
it speaks to us more,
we understand it better,
and the more connections,
a text makes in our minds,
and in our hearts,
the easier it is,
going to be to remember it,
and that's how,
that's how I've come,
to see memorization,
so I have used,
like Bible memory apps,
I've used flashcards,
I've used stuff like that,
and I have found it,
for myself,
far more profitable,
to memorize,
by way of meditation,
because it becomes,
more part of me,
at the same time,
I mean I do,
I have another ring of cards,
that are actually,
verses or short passages,
that I'm memorizing,
but,
but now that I'm,
a little better at meditating,
that's how I'm doing it,
right,
I'm meditating on it,
I'm thinking it all through,
and absorbing it,
in that way,
I found,
because I,
am lazy,
and love to take the easy way,
I found like,
using an app,
or,
something,
if I just focused on just,
I gotta remember this,
I gotta remember it,
I wasn't getting much out of it,
I might remember it,
but short term,
and,
I didn't find it,
becoming part of my life,
like,
and I was like,
well I have memorized,
if it's not becoming part of me,
if it's just an activity,
I do,
on the app,
on my phone,
and that was my experience,
it's not everyone's experience,
my,
my experience was,
that was a whole separate,
it was as if,
it was a whole separate,
chunk of my brain,
and the rest of me,
would just go on,
and yes,
I've memorized that verse,
but,
it's not,
it's not in my mind,
at heart,
and I,
prefer not to memorize that way,
because I want to see fruit,
and I'm like,
again,
I'm lazy,
and I,
like,
I don't want to do this,
if it's not going to,
bear fruit in my life,
so that's my experience,
and I want to,
I want to give permission,
to do it more that way,
if that works better for you,
right,
again,
there are,
there are lots of ways,
lots of methods out there,
again,
you can Google Bible memory,
you'll find lots of different methods,
ways to,
memorize large portions of scripture,
which is,
a fabulous thing to do,
you know,
how to incorporate regular review,
because we do need to keep reviewing,
the stuff we've memorized,
some of the difficulties,
I mean,
there are,
there are all kinds of difficulties,
one difficulty I have,
when I'm memorizing,
is that,
when I was a teenager,
I was in a church,
where,
as pretty much,
all the churches,
I knew of,
were using the King James version,
of the Bible,
and I memorized a lot of stuff,
in King James,
and I heard it,
in that language,
I still hear verses,
in that language,
and,
now I'm like,
memorizing out of a different,
translation,
I've probably memorized some,
in the,
New International version,
I've memorized some,
in the,
English Standard version,
now,
which is the one I mostly use,
but,
you know,
I mix up synonyms,
right,
I might have,
and,
it might be,
because of that King James,
you know,
it's still in my head,
in my heart,
right,
but,
I,
and,
and Dr. Whitney would disagree,
with me,
Dr. Whitney says,
be word for word,
accurate,
and make sure,
you get the,
the location,
the,
the verse reference,
make sure you memorize,
all of that,
and I'm sure,
that's a great thing to do,
it's really hard for me,
to connect the verse reference,
to the verse,
unless I've studied it in context,
and then I am much better,
at it,
I just need a lot of connections,
and to me,
I just,
like,
I have a hard time remembering,
just remembering numbers,
I,
I can't,
I don't remember numbers,
you know,
my husband and I talk about this,
like,
I,
you know,
how much did that cost,
I have no idea,
like,
you know,
I'm not one of these,
grocery shoppers,
who remembers what it was last week,
and thinks,
oh,
not paying that,
this week,
because I just can't remember the numbers,
I don't make an effort,
but,
it's difficult,
so,
the verse references,
just trip me up all the time,
and,
you know,
again,
in the ideal world,
I would learn all of that,
I would learn the words,
accurate in whatever single translation,
I'm using,
or,
or whatever,
like,
the whole verse in my head,
would be,
would match a translation,
at least,
which often,
it just,
I mean,
sometimes it does,
most of the time,
I would say,
but then,
I'll find myself,
you know,
throwing in some phrase from the King James,
because,
because that's like,
it's like,
it's like a first language,
you know,
when you,
when you have a first language,
and then you learn some other languages,
that first one,
can really stick,
and I found that to be the case for me,
I used the King James Bible for,
for probably at least eight years,
and,
and many of you have used it,
used it longer,
because I wasn't a,
I wasn't a child when I became a Christian,
but,
yeah,
so,
I'll mix up synonyms,
and again,
I would just encourage you,
don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good,
if you can get the hang of a verse,
and occasionally,
you're going to slip up on a word,
here or there,
if you,
if you've meditated on that verse,
which should be part of it,
if you've meditated on that verse,
you know,
you're going to know what it means,
and if you say,
you know,
if you,
if you switch synonyms,
you know,
if we say,
if I,
if I'm,
going back to this verse,
if I'm memorizing this,
and I say,
be strengthened,
being strengthened with all power,
according to his glorious power,
well,
that's not what it says,
right,
it says might,
but they mean,
pretty much the same thing,
so,
I'm not going to beat myself up for it,
you know,
I'm just not,
I want to know,
I want the word in me,
but I want the meaning in me,
even more than the individual words in me,
individual words,
believe me,
I am an individual word person,
they are really important,
so,
not saying don't pay attention to the words,
just get the idea,
you know,
that's,
that's not what I'm saying at all,
but,
but I do want to sort of,
sort of let go of that,
I just can't,
I can't memorize,
I can never remember,
I can never remember the,
I used to call it the address,
the reference,
I can never remember that,
I just like,
I've just given up on memorization,
like,
let's not do that,
let's try,
and,
and decide for ourselves,
I mean,
some of you may feel like,
that is really important,
I really want that,
I really want to be able to say,
it's here,
in Colossians chapter one,
verses eleven and twelve,
I,
I really want,
and then,
go for it,
that's important to you,
in a way that it might not be,
as important to me,
now,
I remember it's in Colossians,
because,
because I remember the context,
out of which I,
grabbed hold of it,
so to speak,
in my heart,
in my mind,
but,
I'm,
but I may not remember,
it's eleven and twelve,
a,
the verse goes on,
so,
that's most of what I want to say,
about memorization,
I'm not a huge,
memorizer,
but I've become,
much better,
as I recognize it,
the verses that I prayed,
every day,
I memorized,
without trying,
I didn't set out,
to memorize,
but,
they're there in my head,
in my heart,
and,
and they're part of me,
because I've prayed them,
because I've meditated on them,
because I've,
thought about,
what all the words mean,
and so,
they've become part of me,
and that,
for me,
has made,
it has lifted,
some of that,
I don't know,
that perfectionism,
I think,
off of,
off of me,
I was going to say legalism,
but it's not legalism,
but it's just,
that perfection,
is tendency,
like,
if I can't do it,
100% right,
every time,
it's just not,
it's ridiculous,
I can't do this,
so,
you know,
that's really,
what I want to leave you with,
for,
memorization,
and then just this,
which I said before,
it,
the meditation,
and the memorization,
go together,
and,
it doesn't mean,
you have to memorize,
every verse,
you meditate on,
but you're going to find it,
easier,
to memorize a verse,
you've meditated on,
in all likelihood,
you know,
and,
and different people,
have different brains,
and I totally recognize that,
and I don't understand,
everyone else's brain,
so,
you know,
this,
this sounds like nonsense to you,
just,
that's nonsense,
leave it,
but,
yeah,
anyway,
so,
yeah,
I had hoped to do,
I,
well,
I guess,
I guess we did what,
what I wanted to do,
I was going to give you your,
I was going to give you,
as homework,
if we had finished the first,
oh yeah,
I was going to do a couple other things,
I was going to have you find 15 insights,
out of,
the Colossians verse,
put it back up there,
I bet that would be a piece of cake,
I think that's a low number,
for this verse,
we already came up with how many,
twice that,
and,
and maybe,
you know,
go home,
what did I tell you to do,
go through the whole rest of the verse,
like that,
emphasizing one word,
and thinking about that word,
and how it relates to the words around it,
and maybe rewrite the verse,
in your own words,
and again,
that's hard for me,
because I do glom onto words,
like,
but it helps you synthesize it,
so,
that's what I wanted to give you,
I wanted to give you a bunch of tools,
to digging into scripture,
I want to encourage you,
that it's not,
inaccessible to any of us,
we can do,
this stuff,
I want to encourage you,
that it doesn't have to take,
you know,
an extra hour,
in your devotional time,
not at all,
I want to encourage you,
to do it every day,
and confessions,
I don't do it every day,
all right,
but it's a goal,
and it's an ideal,
and sometimes,
I have to remind myself,
I need to,
you know,
I need to really,
sit with this verse,
so yeah,
so I will take any questions,
we should,
probably end soon,
but,
Elizabeth.
I have a question,
what,
like,
I'm just reading the Bible,
and I do read the Bible,
almost every,
like,
in the morning,
but I don't,
I don't necessarily,
have a plan,
yep,
can you recommend,
or read through the Bible,
in a year,
a plan,
or something,
yeah,
is that the one,
or,
yeah,
I can recommend a bunch,
we actually talked about this last week,
so if you go back,
and listen to it,
okay,
you will hear what I think about plans,
and some of that,
some of that kind of stuff,
and I don't think I have one with me,
but I had a handout,
that included links to some plans,
so I can,
I can email that to you,
if you'd like,
yeah,
that means,
you know,
if you just Google Bible reading plan,
you'll get a million of them,
and,
and you can just pick,
I mean,
there,
there are a lot of different ways,
to do it,
and that'll make your advice,
all the more helpful,
if you're talking about it,
yes,
it's true,
yep,
anyone else,
Ralph,
I just have a comment,
it's sort of stood out,
it's sort of an alternate,
on this method,
of going word by word,
with emphasis,
so I saw a,
an opera recently,
and my housemate,
was in the opera,
and during times,
when he didn't have,
a speaking,
or singing part,
he actually,
was still on stage,
and,
had some wonderful gestures,
that I noticed,
yeah,
and so,
when I saw the,
differing emphasis,
I realized,
well,
should we put emojis,
after each one,
but,
instead of that,
you know,
I was thinking,
there,
there might be,
a different audience,
to,
we sometimes,
see ourselves,
in others,
so,
if we think of,
well,
is this a verse,
that I should share,
to someone else,
for a particular problem,
how would,
they,
or how might,
some of the original,
hearers,
have responded,
to different parts,
what's being said,
yeah,
and I,
I just thought,
that might be,
yeah,
because,
we do,
continue to learn,
about ourselves,
and seeing others,
but,
we also have,
a ready application,
if we're thinking,
about encouraging,
yeah,
exactly,
yeah,
that's great,
yeah,
I mean,
if,
you could go,
you could go home,
and write this verse out,
in emojis,
like,
wouldn't that be cool,
if it,
you know,
and if you're someone,
who like,
can't stand,
don't do it,
but,
you know,
it might be fun,
it might make you think,
like,
wait,
what can I,
what emoji,
could I use,
to represent this,
Laura,
yeah,
there we go,
yeah,
there we go,
along the lines,
of fun and funny,
I have three daughters,
and when they were growing up,
we do a lot of memorization,
and one of the things,
that we found,
helpful,
because it was fun and funny,
is just putting it to music,
and then sometimes,
then they didn't even have,
hand motions too,
and,
like,
Psalm 19,
verse 11,
you know,
we say,
thy word have I,
I've hidden thy word in my heart,
thump,
that I might not sin against thee,
and you know,
they laugh,
and they get it,
they remember it,
you can probably stop them now,
on the street,
and thump,
thump,
and,
oh,
Psalm 119,
and something like that,
yeah,
yes,
and when,
as Ralph was talking about his friend,
in the opera,
like,
yeah,
hand motions,
like,
physical stuff,
many of us are,
many,
very physical,
and that would really be helpful,
um,
you know,
I don't,
I,
you know,
I'm not especially like that,
but,
this feeds into,
okay,
so,
Gartner's eight intelligences,
which actually go into learning styles of people,
and you touched on several of them,
visual learning,
auditory learning,
um,
we,
there is a physical learning,
there's a creative learning,
and it just reinforces what you've got here,
so,
yeah,
understanding what your learning style is,
is going to be really helpful,
yep,
in,
doing this sort of thing,
yep,
absolutely,
yeah,
I want to thank you too,
that,
what we did orally here,
was mind mapping,
we just didn't draw the lines,
right,
yeah,
that's what it is,
right,
Amos,
um,
I,
there's,
there's a,
uh,
what do we call it,
a series of,
of music,
music albums,
Seeds Family Worship,
somebody recommended it to us years ago,
and each album,
each,
each song is just one verse,
and they just sing it,
your,
your comment reminded me,
yep,
in a contemporary style,
such that we've found it to be perfect for like,
road trips and in the car and such,
because,
uh,
and it,
it's something that it's not,
it's for children,
but it really is,
I've,
really appreciated the,
because it's,
it's meditative,
like it,
they don't just,
it,
it's not like verse and then chorus style,
it's,
it's really just take the words,
kind of bit by bit,
and sometimes they'll shuffle some of the phrases,
and then of course,
you know,
they,
sometimes they add,
it's not,
you don't see,
you know,
it's just music,
yeah,
but it's not like they're doing hand motions,
but they're,
but they're doing things with the phrases,
so anyway,
it's,
yeah,
if,
if anybody is interested in that,
is that right now,
yeah,
possibly,
I,
I wouldn't know,
I feel like I saw it,
but they've got,
we have at least half a dozen of the albums,
and those are kind of the favorites,
for our road trips,
and,
yeah,
that's great,
and also understand that music connects both,
half of your,
both halves of your brain,
so that you're actually getting in there a little bit better,
mm-hmm,
good,
well,
we should,
we should stop,
and give time for,
well,
coffee hour between the services,
yeah,
so,
let me just close briefly in prayer,
Father,
again,
we thank you for your word,
we thank you for the richness of it,
we thank you,
Lord,
that you,
you can strengthen us,
with all power,
according to your glorious might,
Lord,
how we thank you that,
that you have created us in,
in,
diverse ways,
and we have so many ways to learn,
so many ways to grow,
and so many ways to,
encourage one another,
we pray that we would do that,
that we would,
just seek you more and more,
in your word,
and,
thank you for being with us,
in Jesus name,
amen.
Thank you.